Sports

It was a wild ride of emotions for new Peterborough Petes' captain Zack Kassian yesterday.

Early in the day, Kassian was told by the NHL's Buffalo Sabres they were returning the 18-year-old, their first round-pick in June, 13th overall, to his junior team.

Kassian then got in his car and bolted to Peterborough, arriving at 6 p. m. for a 7 p. mgame. When he arrived the club slapped the captain's C on the third-year veteran's sweater.

"When you see the board outside our dressing room and see all the captains who went through here it's a true honour and I accept this with pride," Kassian said, after his assist helped the Petes to a 2-1 win over the Brampton Battalion in the Petes' season opener.

It was a combination of disappointment, anxiety and excitement all in the course of a few hours.

"You can't get down about getting cut, I've never been cut by a team before," Kassian said,

"But it's the NHL and I have a lot of work to do still to get there.

"I obviously, wanted to play exhibition games, but I guess Buffalo takes their time with their young guys. They said I had a good camp, but they said there are other guys right now who they're looking at from the AHL and the AHL is a better league than the OHL so they have to give them a shot before me."

Kassian knew there was a good chance he would be back in junior this season and he wasn't overly disappointed.

"Jeff Twohey, Ken McRae and Ryan Barnes have been great to me and I've learned a lot from them," Kassian said. "I think I'll mature and it will make my all-round game better and give me a better shot next year. Going back to junior will be good. I'm going to be tested every night and leaned upon and I'm going to have to produce and not take any nights off."

McRae was excited to see the six-foot-three, 215-pound right winger come through the door.

""I know it likely hurt Kass (to be returned)," said McRae, "but he's a competitor and he'll come back only looking to improve and to help this hockey club. It's a huge thing for us to get him back."

Petes' GM Jeff Twohey said Kassian was a natural choice as captain as he commands respect from his teammates. He is joined by assistant captains Adrian Robertson, Brett Theberge and Jack Walchessen.

"He's shown a real willingness to learn about being a leader," Twohey said.

"He's a relatively young player who has a fair amount of experience. He's an under-17 champion and a member of two under-18 teams, went to Canada's world junior development camp and was a first-round NHL pick. He's a pretty worldly guy who can back up anything he says. He's a hard-working, intense guy who would expect the rest of our team to work at the same intensity level as he does."